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Ebola Outbreak in the Congo: Forced Vaccination, But No Soap and Water or the Right to Vote

Ebola Epidemic in the Congo: Forced Vaccination, But No Soap and Water or the Right to Vote | 07 March 2019 | ...Distrust of outsiders is entrenched, and grew in two areas, Beni and Butembo, after the government barred residents there from voting in the long-delayed elections in December, supposedly because of concerns about the spread of Ebola. Many people thought the government had used the disease as an excuse to keep them from voting, and some of their anger turned against the outside groups that had drawn so much attention to Ebola. Recent attacks on two treatment centers operated by Doctors Without Borders led the group to close them, and brought a scorching and highly unusual self-assessment by Dr. Liu..."They hear constant advice to wash their hands, but nothing about the lack of soap and water," Dr. Liu said. In a piercing essay published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, another physician from Doctors Without Borders, Dr. Vinh-Kim Nguyen, wrote: "Early in the epidemic, we witnessed armed agents forcibly bringing patients in for treatment." Dr. Nguyen also noted that when Ebola teams were accompanied by security forces, they were met with fear and distrust, especially of forced vaccination.